‘Final Fantasy XV’ Demo Share Play Disabled, But New Weapon, Armour and Combat Details Revealed

Visitors Play The 'Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn' video. — IN PHOTO: Visitors play the "Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn" video game at an exhibition stand during the Gamescom 2014 fair in Cologne August 13, 2014. The Gamescom convention, Europe's largest video games trade fair, runs from August 13 to August 17. Reuters

With just over two weeks to wait until gamers get their hands on the “Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae” demo, a raft of new gameplay details have come to light. New information highlighting the kinds of items, weapons and gameplay features available was shared by director Hajime Tabata in a new video.

During the latest Active Time Report livestream, Tabata also mentioned that the game would disable the PlayStation 4’s Share Play functionality. He goes on to add that though feature is disabled, gamers will be able to stream video of gameplay via PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.

In its coverage of the report, DualShockers summarises many of the gameplay points highlighted by Tabata. He mentioned the car seen in the game’s trailers is not available in the demo; however, in the full game it can be driven on the road. Players looking to take their journey off-road will have to find Chocobo’s and other means of transport.

Players will not be able to use all their abilities with a single weapon and each weapon will come with its own set of abilities. The team decided to keep this system relatively basic for the demo in order to garner feedback from gamers.

When blocking, players will actively consume magic points, or MP, which prevents gamers from turtling. Players will have to use consumable restorative items in order to keep their guard up for long periods of time, though skilled players can make use of timed button parries to consume less MP when guarding. Tabata stated that enemy attacks come from 360 degrees, which will require gamers to stay on their toes. While there are no armour items and accessories in the demo, they will be present in the full game.

Tabata also mentions that the demo is still deep in development, as the team continues to fine-tune systems. The game is being playtested in different locations around the world - London, Tokyo and L.A. - with each team providing different feedback. Tabata also said that while the demo has a level cap of 99, gamers won’t need to reach that level to get the best out of it and that the team is still trying to decide on a level cap for the full game.

Introduced with in PS4 Update 2.0, Share Play allows gamers to digitally offer control to a second player over a high-speed Internet connection. Gamers can also use Share Play to enjoy local multiplayer-only games online and the beneficiary of a Share Play session does not need to own the game in order to play.

The “Final Fantasy XV” demo is not the first title to block Share Play. As Eurogamer points out, despite Sony’s intention to make the feature available on every PS4 title, there are a number of games that restrict or disable it. The “Final Fantasy XV” demo will be made available with copies of the first-print run of “Final Fantasy Type-0 HD,” which launches on PS4 and Xbox One on March 17.